Barcode billing and stock control for clothing and footwear shops

A barcode is just a quick way to tell the billing system exactly which item you are selling: the design, size, colour and price. Instead of searching or typing, you scan, and the item is on the bill.

• Faster billing, so the queue moves in festival and wedding seasons.
• The right price every time, even when a new helper is at the counter.
• Every sale reduces stock of the exact size and colour sold.
• Fewer arguments, because the bill shows exactly what was bought.

You do not need expensive equipment. A normal USB barcode scanner and a small thermal receipt printer are enough for most shops, and labels can even be printed on A4 sticker sheets.

Good stock control starts with how you enter products. Create one product for each design, with its variants under it:

• Kurti, design A: sizes S, M, L, XL, each in two colours.
• Kids frock: age sizes, each colour as a variant.
• Sandal, design B: sizes 5 to 10, in black and tan.

Each variant gets its own stock count and its own barcode. This is what lets you see, for example, that size M of a kurti is finished but size XL is still sitting on the shelf.

The best time to label stock is the moment it comes into the shop. Enter the new stock, print the labels, and stick them before the pieces go to the shelf or the shoe rack. If a piece reaches the shelf without a label, it will be sold without being scanned, and your stock will be wrong.

Put the label in the same place on every item: on the tag of a garment, inside the tongue or on the box of a shoe. Your counter staff will scan faster when they know where to look.

1. 1Scan every item, even when the customer is a regular.
2. 2Apply any discount on the bill, not as cash returned later.
3. 3Take payment and note the mode: cash, UPI or card.
4. 4Print or share the receipt. A GST bill if the customer needs one.
5. 5For a return or exchange, process it on the system so the stock comes back.

When every sale goes through the same routine, your sales report and your stock both stay correct without extra work at the end of the day.

Running out of your best-selling size is lost money. Set a minimum level for popular items, and check low-stock items every week, so you re-order before the shelf is empty, especially before Diwali, Eid, Karva Chauth and the wedding season.

Look at which designs and sizes sell fastest. Many shops find that a few sizes sell much more than others. Buying more of those, and less of slow sizes, frees up cash.

Pieces that have not sold for months block money and shelf space. Once a month, look at stock that has not moved. Options include a festive sale, a bundle offer, showing them again to regular customers on WhatsApp, or putting them on your online store for buyers outside your area.

Fashion goes out of season quickly. It is usually better to sell slow pieces at a smaller margin than to keep them for another year.

Even with barcodes, stock can drift because of unscanned sales, damaged pieces or items given on approval. Do a quick count of one section each week, such as kurtis one week and footwear the next, instead of one huge count a year. Correct the numbers in your system when you find a difference, and note the reason.

If you sell on WhatsApp or through an online store, use the same stock numbers as your shop. That way, a pair of shoes sold at the counter in the morning cannot be sold again online in the evening.